As the 4th graders studied the Medieval Times, I felt like that would be a great time to tie in the study of radial design in art class. We looked at a bunch of pictures of Rose Windows from the Medieval Times and discussed the patterns and colors. Inspired by Rose Windows, we did radial designs two ways. This project here is the more free-flowing, organic radial design project.

We began with large pieces of poster board cropped into squares. No drawing to begin, rather students used thin black paint and created their own large radial design. The design must start near the middle and radiate outward and off the page.

After filling the page with black lines, each student selected one base color for their painting. For every new color mixed, their original base color must be included.

The students had a fun time experimenting with mixing new fun colors. What happens when you mix pink and green? How about purple and blue? Yellow and brown?

So for instance, if a student chose blue for their base color, all other colors must be mixed with blue. blue and white, blue and black, blue and white and black, blue and pink, blue and pink and purple...and on and on.

After fill in the entire page with color, with no white areas showing through, the students repainted over each and every black line to really make those lines bold and separate the colors. We actually found that by repainting those black lines, it made the colors POP even more. and all of my students know that I love it when colors POP!

The really fun part of the project was that after they finished the black lines, students all had to use clear gel glue to trace over some of their black lines. Then.....we added glitter! At first some students were reluctant to add glitter but in the end, everyone was so happy. We used black glitter over the black lines so it really accentuated the design rather than drawing attention away.

These look so awesome lining the stairs near my classroom. On certain days, the sun shines in just right so that I can see a beautiful sparkle all along the artwork.

These forth grade students seemed so proud of their artwork and look forward to bringing them home....